


Forced Smiles

by TinyCurlyFry



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 00:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15897090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyCurlyFry/pseuds/TinyCurlyFry
Summary: It's the first Candlenights following the fateful day of Story and Song, and Taako has invited everyone to his and Ren's place to celebrate the first night. Angus was excited for the return of Taako's amazingly delicious macaroons, and Lup was ready to beat her twin's butt in a friendly sibling cook off. But when memories of the past instead throws Taako into a panic, Angus and Lup become determined to find out just what happened in Glamour Springs all those years ago.Hell hath no fury like Lup.





	1. Chapter 1

Angus wasn’t sure who had first suggested that the former members of the IPRE and the Bureau of Balance get together for that first Candlenights following the day of Story and Song. He’d even accept that it was something they all had just sort of assumed. Amongst the planning for each night, however, It was Taako who had announced the celebration of the first night was to be at his and Ren’s abode. His reasoning was that he and Ren were the only ones capable of starting things off right. Whether or not the others actually agreed on that point, no one took issue with gathering at Taako’s home for the night.

Angus thought it was nice of Taako to want to host the party. He’d been at the wizard’s place a few times leading up to the event, and Taako gave preparations for this party his full attention. He’d even shoved decorations into Angus’ hands a few times, giving very specific instructions for where and how each of the items should be placed. All that care and effort really showed in the final appearance of the place. Fairy lights seemed to almost cover the ceilings of the main rooms. The biggest, gaudiest plant they could fit in the building stood in the corner of the large living room, now surrounded by a ridiculous number of presents of every shape and size. The walls had hardly any empty space left, covered with some of the cheesiest, tackiest Candlenights decorations Angus had ever seen. Fake snow even covered some of the flat surfaces, surrounding candles of different colored flames, all adding to the surreal holiday atmosphere of the place.

And now the air was filled as well, as all their closest friends laughed and chatted among themselves, and aromas of freshly cooked and baked foods wafted from the long table Taako had set up. Angus had made his way around the room, being sure to greet every single guest there. It would be rude not to talk to each person at least one time. At a certain point he realized he hadn’t spoken with Lup yet, and quickly wove his way through the crowd of people in search her. He spotted her rather quickly, talking with her brother outside the main crowd of guests. He had already greeted Taako upon arriving, but he thought it’d only be polite to wish him another happy Candlenights as well. Or, at least he was about to greet the two of them when something made him pause. Whatever it was Lup was getting loud and excited about, it seemed to cause Taako to withdraw a bit. He stiffened with a sudden forced smile and a nervous laugh Angus had only heard a few times before. It was immediately obvious too that Lup wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction from her brother. Her devious grin faltered as she seemed to try to see behind her brother’s obvious front. 

As such, the energetic greeting Angus had prepared came out more unsure than he wanted, “H-hello sir, ma’am.” The twins looked at him in unison with surprise, “I just thought that I-I’d come wish Lup a happy Candlenights since I hadn’t yet and thank you again Taako, for- for inviting us here. So--uhh happy Candlenights! ”

“Oh, uhhh, thank you, little man.” She gave him a kind smile, ruffling his hair, “Happy Candlenights to you too.”

Taako quickly pulled Angus towards him, or more specifically between him and Lup, “Perfect timing, my man! Hey, why don’t you show Lup how amazing a teacher I am? You know, shoot some shit out of your wand, really ‘wow’ us.”

He stumbled a little, not expecting at all to suddenly be put on the spot, “Oh! Uhhh, are you sure, sir? I don’t mean to interrupt the conversation you two were having.”

Taako’s voice raised in pitch ever so slightly, “Oh don’t worry about that, it was just some silly sibling banter! Not nearly as interesting as having you demonstrate your magic. Have at it Pumpkin!”

Lup gave Taako a confused look, but she didn’t question her brother’s odd behavior. She instead gave Angus an encouraging thumbs up, “Let’s see it, kiddo.”

“Well… okay. I actually did figure out a new spell I wanted to show you, sir. I wanted it to be a surprise further into Candlenights but I guess now is okay too!”

That caught Taako by genuine surprise, his eyes becoming bright with anticipation as he looked expectantly at Angus. Angus closed his eyes in concentration and held his wand close to him. A brief moment later he blinked into the ethereal plane. Another second later, with another burst of concentration, he appeared on the other side of Taako.

There was a brief moment where nothing happened, or at least, nothing that he could hear. But just as he opened his eyes again he felt two hands immediately grab him under the arms and swing him into the air. Lup hollered and cheered with equal enthusiasm as Taako held Angus in his arms, “WAS THAT ‘BLINK’?!” Taako yelled, “Was that a third level transmutation spell you just did there?!”

He felt his face warm as many of the people in the room turned towards the twins’ commotion. “Y-yeah, I worked really hard on that one and it was a little scary to pull of the first time since I never really…. Crossed into another dimension before? But I think I have the hang of it now.”

Lup popped her head over Taako’s shoulder so Angus could see her, “I’ll say! That was some nice magicking, Angus!”

“Th-thank you, That means a lot coming from you miss Lup!”

Taako lifted his chin proudly as he turned towards his sister, “See? What did I tell you? Am I the best magic teacher ever or what?”

She raised a brow in amusement, “But he taught himself that spell, Taako. That says more about his own abilities than yours, don’t you think?”

Taako scoffed, but Angus was faster to respond, “Oh! That’s not entirely true! I never would have been able to get as far along as I am without Taako teaching me! He really is a great teacher.”

Somehow that caught Taako off guard, although Angus wasn’t entirely sure why. Taako had boasted his teaching abilities quite a number of times, and had told him himself that he was making great progress in growing as a wizard. Heck, Angus probably wouldn’t have been able to learn the first thing about magic beyond theories and principles if Taako hadn’t extended that offer to tutor him. But Taako now stared at him, almost in disbelief. Lup made an endearing ‘awww’, nudging her brother’s back with her elbow. Taako cleared his throat as he averted his gaze from Angus’. With his one free hand he transferred his hat to Angus, pulling the hat down taught over his head so that the large hat completely covered Angus’ face. The only thing he could see was the soft velvet material and the vague shapes of the twins. Muffled from outside the hat he heard Taako mumble, “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

Lup gave a happy sigh, “Well, I’ll get off your case, babe, but only because I like a surprise. Your dish better be hot shit if you’re going to be so secretive about it though.”

“Yup, a surprise. That’s what it is.” Taako’s voice was strained and quiet, but Angus guessed Lup had already walked away for no response came.

The hand that was holding him tightened a bit, and Angus lifted the brim of the hat so he could see his teacher. Taako was looking down at nothing in particular, but he looked defeated. It wasn’t as bad as the time Angus watched the memories of Lup and the IPRE rush back to Taako, but the similarities in his expression still tugged at Angus’ heart. He didn’t like seeing Taako like this, when something deeper down rose above his pompous and aloof exterior.

“Taako?”

And just like that the frown was gone, replaced with a forced smile as Taako looked up at him. “How about helping me out with something, Pumpkin? I’m gonna need an extra hand and I can’t think of a better set of hands than yours.”

“Of course, sir! I’d be honored to help with…. Whatever it is you need help with!”

“Excellent! No time to waste then!”

A part of Angus wanted to tell Taako he could put him back down now, as being carried through the crowd of his friends and former coworkers was pretty embarrassing, but Taako seemed to be walking in the direction of the kitchen, which wasn't too far from where they had been standing. Once they were beyond the swinging door, Taako held his shoulder to keep it from swinging back open. With a sigh finally let Angus down.

Without missing a beat Taako was already upon the cabinets, pulling pans and trays out by the handful and throwing them haphazardly onto the countertop. Angus was left near the doorway, but after a moment of hesitation he pulled himself onto one of the stools at its side. He simply watched as Taako dashed back and forth across the room, pulling out some baking component with each pass he made. Angus had only tried his hand in baking once, but he recognized some of the ingredients from his singular attempt, "Are you going to be making those delicious macaroons again, sir? Like a Candlenights tradition?"

"Correction, little man, you're going to be making the macaroons."

"Me? But sir, mine weren't very good. I don't think the others would want to eat my cookies. They'd much prefer yours!"

Taako turned away to grab an unnecessary amount of spoons from a drawer, "Well I tried to make them last night and I couldn't. So you’re gonna do it."

Angus blinked, "Couldn't?"

"I can't, Agnes."

Angus frowned at the intentional mispronunciation, knowing it was done to get a rise out of him, "Sir..."

"Regardless, you actually got the texture perfectly last time, which is like the hardest part. Somehow you managed to screw up the easier part, but I can make sure it doesn't taste like cardboard. I'm not gonna touch anything though, so there's no worries."

His frown deepened, "I don't see why I'd be worried about that." But something felt familiar about this.

Taako threw his hands up in exasperation, still moving about the room wildly, "You wouldn't be. I shouldn't be! It's dumb and ridiculous and i-i-it shouldn't even matter anymore!” There was a pause as Taako added much more quietly, “But thems the breaks apparently."

He remembered months ago when Taako had mentioned he avoided cooking for people. "Is this about the people eating that thing people shouldn’t ever eat?"

"What? Oh… yeah. But listen,” He gives another large nervous laugh, “None of that matters anymore, that fucking weight was already lifted off my chest! A vision from a magic cup cleared that shit up long ago! And now! I’ve been like officially pardoned and all that jazz! So like, not even a thing to think about anymore!”

Angus couldn’t make too much sense from Taako’s rambled outburst, but it was clear the subject was upsetting him, and that wasn’t what Angus had meant to do, “Sorry, I--I’d be happy to make these macaroons for you, sir. I apologize for bringing it up.”

Taako stopped, a defeated sigh escaping him as he dragged a hand across his face, “Fuck... No, don’t apologize, pumpkin. Ain’t your fucking fault. Let’s… yeah, let’s get these puppies started.” 

Angus knew that macaroons took quite some time to make, there was a lot of letting things cool and settle. During these breaks they would rejoin the others in the large living room, Taako trying especially hard to dismiss Lup’s inquiries towards what they were making in the kitchen. Angus, on the other hand, was happy to let a curious Magnus and Merle know the two of them were making those macaroons Taako had made before. He did have to explain to Magnus that they wouldn’t taste nearly as good if he tried to sneak in there and grab them before they even finished cooking.

In the meantime, they were all too happy to dig into the many other dishes that had been brought. Merle and Davenport manned the grill outside, the burgers they made varied from the standard cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato to more unusual ones like pineapple with jalapenos. Lucretia had brought a fancy mac and cheese that was as good as it was probably a heart attack. Much of the dishes admittedly, was comfort food at its finest. Lup’s dish, however, quickly became a favorite.

It was a pasta dish that was somehow a little bit of everything. It had a slight heat that followed a sweet first bite. The sauce seemed to have been absorbed into the vegetables mixed in, allowing each bite to have that burst of flavor. Angus hadn’t realized that both twins shared an amazing talent in the culinary arts, but as the former IPRE members devoured the dish he heard them begin to talk about their favorite dishes the twins had made during their hundred year journey. Even with his plate full of food he felt his mouth begin to water at some of the descriptions.

His sharp detective eyes however, caught a brief concerned look Kravitz cast towards Taako. Further observation showed that Taako had grabbed Kravitz’s hand at some point during the conversation and his grasp from what Angus could tell was extremely tight. He eventually excused himself from the long table and Angus quickly put his attention back to his plate of food. But Taako tapped his shoulder and jabbed a thumb in the direction of the kitchen, “We better finish making those cream fillings, Mango.”

Angus sighed at the ridiculous nickname but nodded and walked with Taako back to the kitchen. Making the fillings was a lot more complicated with Taako’s directions than the standard macaroon recipe. In fact, this was the equivalent of several macaroon recipes, as Taako had flavored almost all of the macaroons with their own individual flavoring, each made to a different guest’s liking. How Taako even knew what preferences some of the members had he had no idea. He couldn’t recall ever having a conversation regarding food preferences with Taako, yet his own macaroon last Candlenights had been made with orange chocolate flavoring, and it was the most delicious cookie he’d ever had. He was delighted when he realized one of those cream batters he was making was that same orange chocolate.

Taako listed off the different macaroons, walking down a line of lined up ingredients and matching them to each person he had invited. “Alright. Blueberry for Barry, raspberry for Lup, coffee for Cap’nport, triple chocolate for Magnus, matcha for Merle….” He trailed off a bit staring at a small container of berries following the green powder.

Angus looked curiously between the berries and Taako, “I think those are elderberries, right sir?”

Taako pulled his eyes off the table and back to the list in his hands, scratching off the item from his list, “Right you are. Elderberry for Lucretia.” It was hard to figure out the emotion held in his voice.

Angus stored that bit of information in his head. It had to be a clue towards the events of Taako’s transmutation gone wrong. He wasn’t too familiar with the berry himself, and he would need more information to formulate any speculations.

After what felt like forever, the two of them had three full platters full of macaroons of every color imaginable. Taako took two in his own hands, leaving the third for Angus to carry in. Taako kicked the swinging door dramatically, calling out in a sing-song voice, “Macarooooons~!”

Magnus pumped two fists in the air with a loud cheer, followed by a few other excited, but certainly quieter exclamations from several members around the room. Angus had to halt a moment as he let the door slow in speed from the initial violent thrust. Angus was close behind Taako as he made his way from person to person, ensuring that they got their intended macaroon. His own macaroon was placed on his plate, Taako giving him a wink as he gently placed the cookie down. At last, he pulled up besides Lup, handing his sister a raspberry macaroon. She gave Taako a curious look, “Macaroons, huh? You think macaroons are gonna beat my totally awesome dish?”

Taako rolled his eyes, “Just shut up and eat the cookie before I decide you don’t get one.”

She laughed and took a generous bite of the macaroon, licking some of the cream that stayed on the corner of her mouth. She frowned, and Angus was almost worried she didn’t like it. All of the other guests so far had seemed to enjoy theirs, but Lup he had recently learned was a masterful chef. She gave Taako a curious look, “You didn’t make these.”

Taako straightened, “Well, you’re half wrong there. It was under my guidance so it was like… my recipe, but technically I-I didn’t make them, no.”

“Well why didn’t you, dingus? Here I thought we were going to have a good, old fashion sibling cook off.”

“Yeah, well those are probably going to stay old fashioned. You know, like… in the past.”

A few eyes turned towards the twins as Lup put the rest of her macaroon on her plate and stood up, searching Taako’s eyes, “Wh-Taako? What’s the problem, babe?”

He tucked an empty platter under his arm and waved a dismissive hand, “Nothing’s ‘the matter’, I just don’t see a reason to make everything a competition you know? Angus made those cookies, I’ll have you know, and he did a great job with them so I don’t see why you gotta make it a big deal that I didn’t make them myself.”

She shook her head in bewilderment, “No, seriously, Taako. What’s wrong? I don’t- I don’t have a problem with Ango making the cookies,” She made sure to peak over to where Angus stood, “It’s a great macaroon, Angus. Sorry if I gave you the impression I didn’t like it.”

She brought her gaze back to her brother, “I’ve just never seen you get this way with cooking before. What’s up?”

“Nothing! Nothing’s ‘up’!”

Magnus at some point must have moved from his seat, for suddenly a large hand took an extra macaroon from the platter Angus was holding and he slung his other arm around Taako’s shoulders, “You know what’s really wrong here is that you haven’t had one of Ango’s macaroons yourself! How about we lighten the mood a little and just enjoy some small sugary bundles of joy made by our bundle of joy?”

Merle piped up, though he remained seated in his chair, “Or, you know, you could kindly give your macaroon to your good pal Merle in the spirit of Candlenights.”

Taako snorted, “Yeah, not gonna happen, Pan-man. He’s my student, I think I freaking deserve one of his macaroons.”

He took the pastry from Magnus’ fingers and popped it in his mouth, looking rather strange as his cheeks bulged slightly to fit the whole thing. Angus’ eyes surveyed the rest of the room, feeling extremely self-conscious despite the fact that the vast majority of eyes were on Taako. One specific pair of eyes caught his attention.

While most looked at Taako with equal parts concern and confusion, the Director gazed upon the wizard with a sad gaze. There was no confusion in her eyes, and she was one of the first to turn away, and Angus wondered if it was due to some sort of feeling of guilt. She continued to stare at her plate, moving a mushroom around in circles on her plate. It didn’t come as a shock to Angus that Magnus and Merle seemed to have a little bit of insight as to what was eating at Taako, but he considered what it might mean if Lucretia knew more than most about the mysterious tragedy Taako had gone through at the end of ‘Sizzle it Up’.

He was removed from his thoughts as Taako pulled him closer, turned him around, and ushered Angus back to his own place at the table. “You know, they say food tastes even better if you made it yourself, so I know you’re gonna want a go at that choco-orange macaroon waiting patiently for you, my man. You put a lot of effort into these, heck I’d even say you deserve at least two of ‘em. They’re pretty dang good too, you know… for just your second try.”

“Oh! Right! I’m really grateful you shared your delicious macaroon recipes with me sir! I promise to try to make them even better next time!”

Taako gave a soft laugh and smiled, what Angus thought was a real smile this time, “I know you will. Just try not to get too good, ya hear? Can’t have you trying to surpass me in both cooking and magic. That just won’t do.”

Angus beamed, “That’s very kind of you sir!”

He put a hand on his head and leaned in, “No, seriously, dear Agnes. Don’t try to surpass me. It’s not a common knowledge but chefs are very much like wizards in the sense that they will take out anyone who poses a potential threat. A wizard duel to the death, but with food.”

“I really don’t see how something like that would be possible si--”

“Don’t question it, Agnes, your growing brain is still to young to understand the complexities and risks of a culinary duel.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so, now eat your macaroon, goofus.”

Angus did, and he was relieved that it was actually good. The flavor wasn’t quite as pronounced as he remembered it being in Taako’s, and the cream was just a little runnier, but it was still delicious and he did end up grabbing a second macaroon from the last platter.

 

The brief breach of peace during the distribution of macaroons wasn’t brought up the rest of the night, for which Angus was relieved and he could assume Taako was even more so. Seeing as many of the other members of the Bureau of Benevolence were spending the holiday with their families, and that those at Taako and Ren’s house were planning on sticking together for the rest of Candlenights, Lucretia had prepared them lodgings on the moon base. Ren, Taako and Kravitz remained in the house, and a while later Magnus and Merle announced they were going to have a sort of sleepover in the house as well. Taako tried to discourage them from the idea, but eventually gave in when the other two proved to be just as stubborn as he was.

So Angus found himself walking the quiet halls of the floating B.O.B headquarters, making his way to the room that used to be his before the day of Story and Song. He didn’t hear anything besides the usual background noises of the base, so when a voice suddenly sounded from immediately behind him he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Alright, freeze little man! Hands where I can see ‘em."

Angus complied, feeling a little ridiculous as he brought his hands level with his head. He turned to see Lup standing over him, hands together in a finger gun pointed at him. Over his little fright, he couldn't suppress the giggle that rose in his chest. Lup poked him good-naturedly with the finger gun, "Tell me what you know." She demanded.

"About what, miss Lup? As the world's greatest detective I know quite a lot."

She tilted her head in consideration, "Huh, you’re completely right." She lowered the finger gun with a smile, "Gotta be more specific don't I?"

He nodded, grin matching hers. "Maybe just a little."

Lup plopped herself down next to him, back to the wall. "What's got my brother all messed up, Angus? Cooking and baking used to be a huge source of pride for taako, alongside the whole magic thing of course."

He sat down as well, "Im not entirely sure what happened myself, either than that it's something that happened a few years ago. It’s got my detective senses all tingling too. But I do have a few clues already."

"Lay it on me, detective."

"Well, it's common knowledge that Taako had a cooking show, it went by the name of 'Sizzle it up, with Taako'." She snorted at the name but gestured for him to continue.

"From what he told me, he used it to combine his transmutation magic with cooking. It sounded really impressive and… well, ‘magical’. He made a pretty big name travelling around putting on these over the top performances."

She smiled softly, "Yeah, that sounds like him."

"But uhhh... something resulted in people dying I think? He said something went wrong with his transmutation one time and people died because of it. That's about where my information ends, but Taako told me that was why he doesn't cook for people anymore. Sometimes he's okay, and he made those same macaroons all by himself last candlenights. They were really really good. A lot better than my cookies."

Lup put a hand on his shoulder, "Noooo, come on Angus, your cookies were bomb. They just don't have the.... ‘ooomf’ of my brothers cooking. But that's a super secret family skill." She put a finger over her mouth with a wink.

He laughed, "I guess that makes sense."

It didn't really, but their cooking was really good. Lup’s soft, reassuring smile gradually gave way to a frown. She was quiet for a moment, choosing to look at her hands as she intertwined her fingers. Her brow creased together, “It doesn’t make sense though.” She whispered, “He’s never lost control of his magic before. Well, up until he was using the Umbra Staff that is,” a quiet laugh broke from her, “but those times were my doing. He’s an amazing wizard, I don’t think I’ve seen him ever ‘slip-up’ on magic, especially transmutation.”

“The story feels off to me too!” Angus exclaimed, “There are more pieces to this story, and I-- I wanna know what happened.”

“Me too, little man. Me too...” But she suddenly perked up, eyes gleaming mischievously, “Hey! But guess what?!”

The sudden shout had him leaning back a bit, “W-what?”

“We’d make a great team, kiddo. Uncovering the truth about this past my bro keeps under wraps. A determined detective duo!”

Angus gasped. He really liked the sound of that, “That sounds amazing, miss Lup! We’ll have this case cracked in no time with us working together!”

“I love your enthusiasm and confidence kid, it’ll take you places. So, you’re the expert in solving mysterious, what’s our first move?”

He stood up, brushing his pants, "Actually, there are two people who may have the information were looking for."

"Tight. Who we talking about?"

“Well, The Madam Director.... Or -uhhh Miss Lucretia, she kept tabs on the other crew after feeding the journals of your mission to the voidfish. I doubt she was there when it happened, but she must know some extra details we don’t have yet.”

The devious smile that had been across Lup’s face fell at the mention of the events all those years ago. Lup seemed to have forgiven Lucretia pretty quickly, as Magnus and Merle had, but Angus supposed it didn’t mean she looked upon Lucretia’s actions very fondly. She probably wasn’t too willing to bring all that back up for Lucretia either. The Director already took it upon herself to reform the Bureau of Balance into the Bureau of Benevolence, helping the planet she almost abandoned heal. Lup’s voice was a bit more solemn when she spoke now, “And the other?”

“Well, if people had died during this event, that means the Astral plane probably has records of it somewhere. We might not be able to learn how it unfolded from these records, but we may learn, say, the cause of death.”

Lup chuckled, “Oh that, that I can do! I-- uhh, not to put that other heavy shit on you, Ango, but digging for confidential reaper info? That already has my name all over it.”

She was right, being a reaper herself, but Angus wondered if he might have to apologize to Kravitz in the future. He sighed, “Please try not to go overboard. I find that Mr. Kravitz is very nice, he would probably even help us willingly if you explain the situation?”

She tweaked his nose playfully, much to Angus’ chagrin, “Oh, sure, but where’s the fun in that?”

“Well, I guess there’s no changing your mind. I’ll see what I can get from the Dir-- Miss Lucretia. Hopefully we can learn when and where this event unfolded and then you can go… snoop around… the records of the eternal stockade… I guess.”

“Hell yeah! Sounds like a plan, little man!” She offered a fist that Angus immediately bumped.

“Let’s roll!”


	2. Chapter 2

Angus’ hand hesitated above the heavy metal doors of the Director’s office. By now it had gotten pretty late and Angus didn’t think it was fair on Lucretia to end her first Candlenights evening hounding her with questions on something he knew she was ashamed of. Lup would understand putting their investigation on hold till the next morning. There probably wasn’t more they could do for the case tonight anyways. Having made his decision, he lowered his arm and turned back down the hall. Except, just as he neared the other end another set of footsteps came from around the corner.

He hadn’t considered that she might not have been in her chambers, and she certainly had no reason to expect to see him by her doors. The two stopped in front of each other, surprise causing both of them to hesitate for just a moment. Lucretia recognized Angus rather quickly, however, and she gave him a warm and curious smile, “Oh! Hello, Angus. I hope you weren’t waiting for me too long. Is there something I can do for you?”

He shook his head, shuffling his feet a little, “No, not at all, I just got here, Ma’am. There was something actually, but it- t’s getting pretty late, so I can save it for tomorrow. Sorry to bother you.”

“Nonsense. I see no reason to turn you away. Why don’t you come in? I can put on some tea for the two of us, if you like tea?”

“I do, but…. really, you don’t have to do that. It can wait till tomorrow.”

She sighed and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “You're already here Angus, anything you wish to talk with me about, I promise you I'm all ears.”

He looked at his feet, still hesitant to bring it all up now, but he honestly was eager to learn what had happened during that last show of Sizzle it up. He wasn't about to argue with her.“O-okay.”

He followed her back to the double doors, to which she raised the silver bracer that still clung to her arm. The throne room had been completely restored, not a single sign of the destruction the hunger had caused only a few months ago. He realized the rest of the base had been left in shambles as well, and he couldn’t help but look back towards the hall, as if expecting to have overlooked any signs of damage. He looked up at the glass ceiling arching above the large room, remembering where the black masses that had crashed through, swirling with ribbons of every color imaginable. “What happened that day never quite leaves you, does it?” Lucretia asked in a hushed tone, and he glanced over to see her gaze resting on the ceiling as well.

“I guess not.” He answered.

“Feel free to take a seat anywhere.” She gestured to the small line of chairs close to her desk, “I’ll go make that tea. Is green tea alright?”

“Yes, that’s fine. Thank you, ma’am.”

He sat in silence, hands distractedly turning the wand he carried around his neck, and he listened to the sounds of water beginning to boil in the small room Lucretia had gone into. He kind of wished Lup had come with him. He knew it was a hard subject for her too, but she always managed to make a tense conversation seem light and casual. He took a deep breath and pulled out his small notepad and pen. 

Moments later Lucretia returned with a cup and saucer in each hand, and she placed them on the desk before taking a seat in a chair besides his. Angus would have to lean over to reach his cup, but it was surely too hot for him at that moment. She took a sip of hers, followed by an encouraging wave of her hand, “So, what has your mind troubled, Angus?”

Angus steeled himself and took a deep breath, sitting a little straighter, “I wanna know what happened to Taako.” She seemed taken aback by that, but he elaborated before she said anything, “I mean, why he avoids cooking for other people. I know it has something to do with a transmutation that went wrong… and that people died because of it… but as a detective that’s hardly any information at all, you know? Especially when it’s just so hard to believe that Taako would slip up like that. And…well... I know you have a bit of insight on what happened.”

Lucretia closed her eyes with a small nod, lowering the cup in her hands close to her lap. “Yes, that would be correct. Unfortunately I… can’t say I know exactly what happened, but I learned about it not long after. It’s one of those times that I…. I wish I’d been there for them.”

She opened her eyes again and cleared her throat, “It was his last performance of his cooking show, at Glamour Springs.”

Lucretia waited as he quickly jotted down the name. She’d been with him a number of times when he was solving a mystery or gather pieces of information, he supposed listing off things she knew about it and that she knew he needed was easier on her than talking about it in general. “It was a garlic chicken recipe. I’m sure he’d done it before, he basically had all the recipes he did in his shows memorized. According to the papers that followed, forty people attended his show that evening. All of them died pretty soon after eating the food.”

“Do you know what kind of poisoning it was?”

She shook her head, “I only saw the initial report, they hadn’t identified the poison yet. I went looking for him as soon as I caught wind of the events in Glamour Springs, but… he had dropped off the face of the earth.” She gave a deep sigh, “It made sense. Most people would go into hiding after something like that. I tried so hard to find him. I didn’t want him to be alone after all that, and in a way it was my fault too. I thought I was giving him a good life. I thought they all were finally going to be able to live the rest of their lives happy.”

Angus started fidgeting with his wand again, “You were able to give all of us a happy life in the end, though. Your magic was what had cut the bonds to the Hunger.”

Guilt twisted his stomach as he noticed that tears had started welling in her eyes. She ruffled his hair with a sad smile, “Thank you, Angus, but what I did was still wrong. I didn’t listen to their reasoning, didn’t consider there was anything else we could do to stop the Hunger. We had tried so many times before, and none of them had worked.”

Angus gave a small nod, knowing the story of their hundred years and feeling increasingly ashamed that he had brought all this back for Lucretia. He had a thought it might, and it was far from his intentions to remind her of her regrets. He stumbled to find his voice again, “I-- uhhh--- what was Taako’s show like? Up until… until Glamour Springs?”

She lifted her gaze, which had fallen blankly on the cup of tea in her lap. “Right, right... I apologize. You have an investigation to conduct.” She tugged on the front of her tunic, and moved the cup of tea to the desk in front of them. “It was a single caravan, just him and someone he had met early on in his travels. They grew pretty close from what I could tell, Taako even let him share some of the stage during the shows.” She laughed, “And I’m sure you know that’s no small thing for Taako. Taako did all the cooking and transmutation performances though, letting this partner of his do the prep work and hand him some of the utensils and ingredients.”

Angus thought to himself for a moment, looking over everything he had written down so far. “I wish there was a way to know what exactly went into that recipe.” He said quietly, “I guess the only way to find out would be to ask Taako himself.”

Lucretia raised a hand, “Oh! I think I could find you the recipe.”

He stared at her in surprise, “You can?! How?”

She stood up and moved again to the smaller room branching from her office. Angus couldn’t stop himself from following this time. Lucretia came to a bookshelf in the far corner of the room, pull a large, heavily decorated book from the shelves. ‘The Best Meals You’ll Ever Have. As Seen on Sizzle it Up With Taako!’

From a quick glance at the shelf, he saw a number of Taako’s other cookbooks lined up. He wasn’t sure how many Taako had written, but it seemed possible that they were all there. Some of the other books on the shelves were a dozen or so atlases, a historian’s recording of the Raven’s Roost Rebellion, a few journals, and, towards the bottom, what looked like a pile of rolled canvases. His attention however, was pulled from reading the titles of the books’ bindings as Lucretia lowered the cookbook for him to see. “This was the one, I’m sure of it. His ‘Thirty Garlic Clove Chicken’.”

Angus scrunched his face, “Isn’t that a lot of garlic?”

She gave a small smile, eyes fondly moving through the recipe slowly, “It certainly sounds like it would be, doesn’t it?”

Angus scanned over the list of ingredients specifically, committing each to memory. He looked up at Lucretia, “Would you mind if I borrowed this book, ma’am?”

She shook her head and placed the book in his hands, “Of course not. It’s yours for however long you need it.”

He grinned, and threw his arms around her in a hug. It was a little awkward as he tried to keep hold of the large book at the same time, “Thank you, ma’am! I promise I’ll give it back to you as soon as possible!”

She chuckled and brought her hands around him, one hand on his shoulder, the other on the back of his head. “Good luck, Angus. I hope you can find some way to put Taako’s mind at ease. He deserves to enjoy his cooking just as much as the rest of us do.”

He gave a determined nod, “I promise I will.”

On his way back to his own room on the base, he made a stop at the bureau’s library.

\-----

The next phase of their mission began early the next morning. Angus couldn’t bring himself to sit still the whole time Lup was in the Astral plane, ever since his talk with the Madam Director he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still off about this case. With every passing second the feeling was only gotten stronger. Everyone was in agreement that Taako wasn’t one to mess up his magic, even Lup and Lucretia, who’d known Taako for over a hundred years. The performance was a routine he had done numerous times, in a town he had performed for before, making a recipe he had completely memorized. Slip ups were more common under stress or when something new was being attempted. With Taako being a confident and powerful wizard it made no sense that anything would have triggered his magic to suddenly go haywire. 

There were still missing pieces, that he knew for sure. Maybe some outside element had happened to startle Taako as he was performing his magic, some source of stress he didn’t know about. Or maybe it was something else completely. He hoped that learning what kind of poison it had been would provide them with some sort of clue, but he wasn’t sure that it would. From what he’d gathered to this point, the signs were pointing towards Nightshade, a berry that looked strikingly similar to elderberries. In Taako’s recipe, a cup of elderberries was called for. If it truly was a transmutation error, that was the likeliest cause.

A sudden spike of energy in the room made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and he whipped around to see a skeletal figure step through a rift, a single piece of paper in hand. He sighed, “No offence, Miss Lup, but normally people try to leave no trace when infiltrating for information.”

She looked between him and the piece of paper before laughing. She planted her hands on her hips, “What are they gonna do? Fire me? Somehow, I don’t see that happening.”

He slid a hand beneath his round glasses, rubbing his eyes, “I really don’t think you should tempt the Raven Queen like that, Lup.”

“What? Nah, Raven Mom is chill. The only one who might get their knickers twisted about all this is Kravitz. Knowing him, I’m sure it won’t be long before he notices a tear in the uhh… big book of death.”

Once again he felt like he owed Kravitz a huge apology for encouraging Lup like this. Maybe the fact that they were doing this for Taako would help smooth things over.

Remembering what was on that paper in Lup’s hand he snapped his head back up, “So?! What does it say?”

She handed him the folded paper without opening it, “Arsenic poisoning.”

Angus stopped, paper now in his hands, “Arsenic poisoning?”

It felt so random, so out of place from all the clues they had so far collected. Lup only nodded and he quickly opened the paper to read the words himself. Sure enough, halfway down the records on the page he saw:

‘Glamour Springs, 1006 ACR, 40 killed. Silvia Augustus, age 10, 9/26 19:10, Arsenic poisoning. Rhoda Augustus, age 32, 9/27 13:12, Arsenic poisoning. Maxwell Bigstone, age 20, 9/27 20:21, Arsenic poisoning. Lillian Boberg, age 57, 9/26 21:13, Arsenic poisoning,’ 

and so it continued. All had died from arsenic poisoning, just as Lup had said. Angus pressed his thumb to his lips in thought. Lup hummed, “So, little detective, does that mean anything?”

A moment of tapping his foot turned into pacing as Angus went over the facts he knew out loud, “Taako blames his cooking for their deaths. It still definitely seems that the food was in fact poisoned, but he thought he’d turned something into a poisonous substance.”

He hurried over to the two books he had laid out on the desk. One was Taako’s recipe book, already opened to the 30 garlic clove chicken. The other was a book on poisons he had grabbed from the Bureau’s library. He opened it to the page he had bookmarked on nightshade, “The recipe Taako used called for an elderberry garnish. If there was one ingredient that could have easily been mistaken for a form of poison it would have been the elderberries. This, is what nightshade looks like.” He turned the book around so Lup could see.

Lup’s face was blank as she stared at the image shown for nightshade, “I see.”

“From what I can tell, this is probably what Taako thinks happened too. When we were making the macaroons for everybody, the elderberries for Lucretia gave him a noticeable pause.”

“But the book says arsenic.”

“Exactly.” He searched the index for the correct page and thumbed through the book for arsenic.

The two of them leaned in close, examining the contents of the page. There were a few different forms in which arsenic came in presented on the page. Nothing really looked like an ingredient that would have gone in the chicken, but Angus made note of the liquid forms. Scanning the properties he was suddenly drawn towards how it smelled. Pretty soon, Lup pointed to the line as well. When struck or heated, arsenic may give off a smell similar to garlic. Angus gasped. 

“Well, there you go.” Lup said, “Guess arsenic makes sense.”

He stared at Lup, eyes wide with horror, “Lup! Do you know what this means?!”

Lup blinked at him, the pieces not quite lining up as they had for him, “That Taako was wrong about the poison? Doesn’t really change much.”

He waved his hands with wild exasperation, “This changes everything!”

She frowned, “What do you mean?”

“This means it wasn’t Taako! The arsenic was mixed in, masked by the garlic in the recipe. It was intentional! Taako’s transmutation didn’t backfire, someone poisoned his food!”

Lup went rigid, her breathing faltering for just a second, “Are you…So you’re saying someone slipped arsenic in my brother’s cooking? And made everyone there; the town, Taako, anyone who read the fucking paper, think that MY BROTHER had murdered those people?!”

“Arsenic doesn’t look like any of the ingredients, there’s no way his transmutation would have replaced any of the ingredients with it, especially without him noticing! Taako didn’t do it.”

Lup’s hand caught ablaze, and her elven face gave way to the sharp skeletal features of her reaper form. Her eyes were still trained on the entry on arsenic, but Angus was glad she was no longer leaning in so close to the very flammable pages. “Ohohoho, some motherfucker’s ‘bout to be a dead man.” She hissed.

Angus lifted his hands, “H-Hold on, Lup! We don’t even know who it was yet! Plus, shouldn’t we tell Taako first? This whole time he thought he had killed all those people. We need to let him know that it wasn’t magic, it wasn’t his doing!”

At that the fire dwindled from her fingers. “God. Taako…”

Angus took a step closer, no longer having to worry about being burned by the manifestation of Lup’s fury, “Also, Taako might be able to give us more insight on who might have wanted to poison the town, or… him.”

Lup looked at Angus, eyes now sharp, clear and determined. She nodded.

The two of them were upon Taako and Ren’s how within moments thanks to Lup’s reaper abilities. Angus pounded on the door. A small part of him hoped he wasn’t disrupting them from sleeping, but at the same time this was important. Too important. He called out desperately through the door, “Taako, Sir?! It’s Angus! Lup’s here too, there’s something really really important we have to tell you!”

“Babe, you’re gonna wanna hear this!” Lup added.

Angus continued rapping on the door, when he barely caught a concerned Magnus voice coming from the other side, muffled by the door. “Hey, Taako? This sounds pretty important.”

“Yeah, if anything I don’t think those two are going to stop that annoying knocking if you don’t answer the damn door.” Merle added.

If there was an answer from Taako, Angus didn’t hear it, but a few moments later the door opened. Taako looked first at his sister, then Angus, then back again. His brow was furrowed ever so slightly. He was probably trying to keep his face blank, but the curiosity and concern still showed. He gave a laugh that sounded more nervous than nonchalant, “What’s all the hubbub about? Kind of early in the morning for this kind of excitement, don’t you think?”

“I know, and I’m really sorry sir, but this is really important!”

Taako glanced up at Lup and his sister clapped a hand on his shoulder, turning him back into the house, “You might want to sit down, hun.”

He complied, letting Lup seat him on one of the couches. Magnus, Merle, and Ren looked at the three of them and finally at each other. “Do you… uhh….. Want us to leave for this?” Magnus asked.

Taako looked more confused than ever but he shrugged, “I'm not sure what they've gotten themselves all riled up about but I’ve got no reason to kick you lot out… Do I, Lup?”

“It’s about Glamour Springs. Ango and I've done some digging around. Like top notch detectiving, and...”

Merle held up a hand, “wait a minute, what's Glamour Springs? Ohhh, that must be where Taako got all his beauty tips, isn’t it?”

Taako placed a hand over Merle’s mouth, waving his other in annoyance, “Okay, no. No. We’re not gonna entertain your dumb theories. You’re so offbase it physically hurts, Merle.” He turned towards the two of them, “Listen, I’m sorry if I freaked you guys out with my cooking fuck up the other day, but Glamour Springs is old news. Just about 7 years old news to be exact.” He said with a nervous laugh.

Lup stepped closer to her brother, her face pulled into a serious frown as she holds Taako’s face in her hands. Neither twin broke eye contact as she speaks, “It wasn’t you, babe. You have never ‘fucked-up’. Not with your cooking or your magic.”

Taako opened his mouth to interject something but she squished his cheeks in her hands, continuing, “Taako. Someone else killed those forty people that day. Someone else poisoned your food.”

At that, Magnus sat up in shock. “Woah, Woah, What?! Forty people? When? Someone fill the the rest of us in on what you guys are talking about?”

Taako let out a groan, followed by a sigh as he took his sister’s hands off his face, “Lulu, I appreciate that you and Ano went out of your way and somehow figured all that out in the span of what? like… twelve hours?” He leaned around Lup to look at Angus, “Fucking scary good detectiving as always, ya nosy brat.”

Angus grinned, adjusting his glasses as a small feeling of pride came over him.

“But, the thing is… and like, not to burst both your bubbles or anything… but I uhh…. Already knew it was my scummy assistant. Slipped a bottle of arsenic of the dish, right?”

Lup and Angus stared at him in shock, “You… you already knew, Sir?”

Taako gave another laugh, feeling the weight of everyone’s stares, “Yeah I mean, granted it was revealed to me somewhat recently.” He turned to Magnus and Merle now, both looking equal parts concerned and confused, “You know the whole ‘greatest regret’ thing that persistent fucking chalice showed each of us? Yeah so this was my uhhh… thing. I guess I never did tell either of you. I think I said I would at some point, but things got kind of crazy after that point huh? Anyway, yeah Chalice-June showed me the whole thing, including what was going on behind my back.”

“And you know who did it?” Lup asked, her voice hardly louder than a whisper.

“Yeah, my uh….. My shitty driver was tired of me being in the spotlight I guess, or just tired of me in general.”

Ren’s hands were over her mouth in horror, “Taako…”

Magnus stood up now, “But the people in the town were killed. You think he was trying to poison you?”

Taako rolled his eyes as if the answer should’ve been obvious, “There wasn’t any reason why he would have had it out for the townspeople. We had a few squabbles leading up to that show, but I certainly didn’t think it’d push him to try to fucking poison me. Y’all think I’m dramatic.”

Whoever this man was he must have been banking on Taako tasting the food as he cooked, Angus thought, or at least sampling it before offering it to the crowd. It sounded absurd, killing out of pure jealousy of Taako’s lead in the show, but Angus supposed people have committed murder for less. 

Lup knelt down so that she was level with Taako sitting down, “Who?”

Taako turned his head, not meeting her eyes, “I already said who it was. Twice actually.”

Her eyes narrowed angrily, “You know what I mean.”

Taako brought his hands together, “Yeah, but Lulu I don’t think that’d be a good decision. On my part.”

She leaned in closer, “And I can’t stress enough how much I’m gonna need that name.”

His mouth tightened to a line, “Yeah. I got that.”

Still on the couch, Merle spoke up, “Don’t you wanna see this piece of shit get his lights knocked out? I feel like he deserves it more than half the nuisances we’ve killed.” He chuckled, “And hell, probably equally to the other half we actually did kill. This guy sounds like the worst.”

“Fair, but he’s already in jail and facing the consequences of his actions at the hands of our good justice system. He turned himself in pretty much immediately after the big ‘S and S’ day. Town gave me an official pardon too. So as far as I can tell, all loose ends are all ready tied up into a nice little bow and in the past.” Taako withdrew into himself a little more, Arms folded and knees drawn up, “Going after him now it….I don’t know, It just feels unnecessary.”

When Lup grasped Taako’s shoulder, it hurt Angus to see how defeated Taako looked when he lifted his gaze to meet hers. Lup’s voice was soft but strong, “That’s why you don’t have to do a thing. You’re still an amazing chef and wizard, and nothing’s gonna change that. And I’m certainly not gonna let someone get away with taking that away from you.”

She stood up and put some space between her and Taako. A moment later her scythe was in hand. Taako’s eyes widened, “Wait! Now hold on a second! Lup--!”

She offered him a smile as a dark cloak unraveled itself around her, replacing the jacket and black jeans she had been wearing. Even as she smiled sympathetically at her brother, there was no mistaking the fury burning in her eyes. “A location is just as good as a name, you know.”

Her seething anger wasn’t even directed at any of them and it still sent chills down Angus’ spine. But just like that her scythe split the air besides her with a single smooth gesture, and she disappeared through it not a second later.

Taako ran his hands through the front of his hair with a loud groan, “Son of a bitch...”

Magnus looked at the rest of them, “I uhh… don’t suppose any of you magic users can do something like that? I don’t even think using Lucretia’s cannon balls could get us there fast enough.”

Merle threw his hands up, “Haha God no! But…..Should we even go after her though? The only downside as far as I can tell is that we won’t be able to get in on the action.”

“See normally I’d agree with you,” Magnus said, glancing at Taako, who was now digging through his pockets for something, “But I think we should’ve really talked about this more. I don’t feel right going after him if Taako’s not giving us the green ‘go ahead’.”

Taako faltered, hand hesitating as it pulled out what he’d been apparently looking for. He looked between it and the three of them, at a complete loss for words. Eventually his shoulders drooped and he looked away from them, “Killing the guy doesn’t do anything, you know? It doesn’t fix anything. The people of Glamour Springs know what he did, and he’s in jail. The damage has already been done, and now he’s just a dude in jail.” He paused at brought himself to look at Magnus, “ I don’t see any point in another unnecessary murder in Glamour Springs.”

Taako squared his shoulders again and shifted what Angus now saw to be a stone of farspeech in his hand. He lifted it to his face and spoke into it, voice clear and unwavering again, “Hey, Kravitz? We’ve got a bit of a situation.”

There was some metallic noise on the other end before Kravitz’s low voice was able to answer, “... Oh boy, I’m not gonna like this, am I? What kind of situation?”

“Well, Lup’s about to do a murder.”

There was a moment of silence before a now familiar crackle of energy pierced the air in the room and Kravitz stepped out of a rift, his skeletal form quite imposing in the cozy living room. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Everyone in the room answered in perfect unison, “Nope.”


	3. Chapter 3

Lup took a bit of pause after jumping through the rift, looking towards the large prison from the rolling hills on the outer edges of Glamour Springs. A large part of her wanted to immediately barge inside, demand to see the bastard’s cell and burn the guy alive. He deserved it, to say the least. But no, she had to be calculating about this. Her stomach tightened with fury as she thought of how conflicted her brother look, how his whole body language had changed as soon as Glamour Springs was brought up. She couldn’t believe she’d gone this long without knowing the trauma her brother had been put through those years she was away. 

His punishment had to be something truly special. Something more… creative than fire, as much as it would get the job down.

She was still staring daggers at the prison when energy crackled in the space besides her, and… yeah she supposed that made sense. She was still slightly surprised, however, to see most of the gang from the house step through after Kravitz. It was rather comical really, as they awkwardly pooled together on this side of the opened rift. They were a persistent to say the least. She raised a brow at her brother, “A little over the top don’t you think? Sending your boy after me I get, but really?” She gestured at the small group of people.

Taako laughed, “Like I could convince them to stay back at the house.”

His eyes kept shooting quick, nervous glances at the building that stood ways away. The same, guarded nervousness crept back into him. She could see it in his shoulders, in the ways his hands twitched at his sides.

Kravitz spoke up, “Lup, I can’t stress enough how against the rules this is.”

She crossed her arms, moving her gaze to glare at Kravitz, “Yeah well, there’s a bit of conflict between the codes ya girl here lives by. In this case I’ve gotta prioritize the old twin code.”

Taako snorted, “There’s no-”

“There absolutely is, don’t even try to deny it babe. If someone fucks with one half, they get fucked up by the other half.”

Magnus made a long, nervous noise, tugging at the ends of his sideburns, “Yeeeeah but like, maybe breaking the Raven Queen’s rules isn’t the best idea? Consequence-wise, I mean. You kinda did just get your body back.”

Kravitz nodded in agreement, “The fact of the matter is that, as a Reaper, you can’t just… kill someone because you feel it’s justified. No matter how justified it may even be. The only circumstance in which we are permitted to reap is when it’s their designated time, a threat to the natural cycle, or an undeniable force of evil intent.”

“I don’t need the Reaper-spiel, Skull-man.”

Barry stepped forward, or more specifically, between her and Kravitz. He was looking at her with those soft, understanding eyes of his, but damn it she wasn’t in the mood at that moment, “Lup…”

“Don’t you even start, Babe. You know this shit can’t stand.”

He took a deep breath, “I know. I do know, Lup. But this isn’t the way to do it. We made an agreement with the Raven Queen, and we sort of owe it to her to uphold it.” He looked at where Kravitz and Taako were standing, “I really don’t think we’re going to get anywhere like this. Why don’t you guys head back, I promise I won’t let her kill this guy. Just- let’s try to cool our heads a bit. I’ll talk with her and see if we can’t reach some sort of… compromise?”

“Good fucking luck with that one, Barold. But yeah, by all means go for it.” Taako gestured vaguely at Barry and her.

Kravitz sighed with a hand running through his long hair, “You’re probably right. Just... No killing. Can’t stress that enough.”

Barry gave him a thumbs up, “No killing. You got it.”

Kravitz looked expectantly at Taako, who in response waved his hands dismissively. He turned towards the rest of their friends, “Alright, alright, back into the hole to casa de Taako. It’s better than standing out here like a bunch of dumb lugs.”  
Barry drew closer to Lup, standing at her side as they watched their friends gradually file back through Kravitz’s rift. Once they were all gone Lup groaned, “Babe, I really wanna kill this guy.”

Barry chuckled, “Yeah, I know. I kind of do too? To be honest, I think most of us share that feeling. Even Kravitz. He cares a lot about Taako, you know he does.”

Lup sighed, “Of course I know. But putting the rules before giving this guy what he rightfully deserves?”

“He’s not wrong. ‘Raven’s pretty forgiving, but she’s not going to allow us to openly break the rules that came with this Reaper shtick.”

Lup rolled her eyes, not convinced, “And this compromise of yours is?”

“Well, I was thinking… I’m pretty sure we can fulfill the twin law. We can still fuck up the guy pretty badly without causing uh… lethal damage.”

She tilted her head curiously, “Do you have an idea in mind?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, “I uh-- not specifically? But I still got some pretty nasty stuff to work with in my lab, I was thinking we could probably put some of that to use?”

That brought a smile to Lup’s face, “Holy shit, Babe.”

“Of course, that’s just a start of an idea. We can come up with some ways to include your magic, and we still need an actual plan, but-” 

He cut off as Lup pulled him, giving a small kiss on the cheek, “I love this compromise of yours, and I’m so sorry I doubted you for a second, babe.”

He laughed, face reddening. “Yeah, well the guy deserves it.”

“Fuck yeah he does.”

\----------------------------

Lup glanced over her shoulder to be sure none of the guards had decided to tag along or trail after her. She was pretty confident in her disguise, but it didn’t hurt to be careful. She had managed to walk through the prison without gaining notice from the other staff, all the way to the long hall of cells, one of which was this ‘Sazed’. She and Barry had managed to sift through the files stored in one of the records room and find the Glamour Springs murderer. It had taken a while to find it without knowing his name, but luckily knowing to look at the reports following the Day of Story and Song had helped shorten the amount of time it took to search. The records room didn’t seem like it was frequented by the staff, as they managed to discover the file before one could walk in on them. Barry had gone back to his lab to start formulating some options. Lup had decided to get a clearer idea of who this ‘Sazed’ guy was.

She stopped just short of the cell labeled ‘247’, moving to rest her back against the wall besides the bars in one fluid motion. She gave the man sitting in the cell a quick look over. He seemed rather plain, on the taller side for a human maybe. She cleared her throat, hoping the voice she tried to do wouldn’t be so obviously forced. “So, you’re the guy who used to do that cooking show with one of the planar heroes right?”

Sazed looked up with a startle, clearly not expecting conversation with a prison guard. He laughed nervously, “Uhh, yeah that- that would be me. What’s it to you?”

“I guess nothing. Not many people know the heroes on a personal level though. What was it like?”

He relaxed slightly, and gave Lup a curious look, “I didn’t think the guards were allowed to engage with us prisoners.”

Lup shrugged, “They can pitch a fit if they like. I’m just curious. You’ve got to have some pretty interesting stories, and this job is mind-numbingly boring.”

“Fair enough. I guess there aren’t too many jobs out there that involve travelling to the extent we did, so that was pretty great. We never had to worry about keeping interest, between the magic and incredible food we always had the audience wrapped around our fingers. Outside of the shows we were basically free to do what we want, especially as we were pretty well off. True freedom only comes to those with a lot of money.”

He shifted so he was facing Lup more, leaning in with his hands on his lap, “I’ll be honest though, it wasn’t as great as you’d expect it to be. Like, sure the job itself was great, but working with Taako was… frustrating to put it lightly.”

It took her full focus not to let her expression fall to a glare. All of two seconds of talking about Taako and this guy was already talking shit about him. Instead of ripping the guy’s head off right then and there however, she raised a curious brow, “What does that mean?”

“Well to start, You wouldn’t believe how self important Taako acts. I doubt there’s another celebrity more obsessed with image and reputation than he is.”

She absolutely could, but she knew the complexity that lies beneath that aspect of her brother. It was already clear that those layers to Taako was completely lost on Sazed, but she let him continue regardless.

“It was always about his ‘brand’. The thing is, he believed the ‘Sizzle it up’ brand revolved around him. And, I mean, yeah Taako’s an amazing cook, but we did the majority of those shows as a duo. I guess with losing his memory he didn’t lose his sense of superiority over the rest of us. Like, sure there are plenty of selfish people in the world, but Taako takes the cake. No one was ever worth his time, even the person who had been working with him and keeping the show running for years. After all this time, I doubt he could even tell you my name. While I worked with him he wanted nothing more than to keep me invisible, I was just some hand in the background keeping things running smoothly while he’s in spotlight. He showed me literally all his tricks and yet somehow I still wasn’t good enough to share the stage with him. I put my heart and soul into trying to be good enough for Taako, but I just never could be. ”

Her fingers dug into the palms of her hands in fury. She would have accepted Sazed calling her brother an asshole, or selfish, but this went beyond that. Even just hearing his side of things she could see what the truth was. Taako had showed him how to cook, maybe even how to do magic if this Sazed guy had any talent in it. It would have been so easy for Taako to do the show on his own, but she knew how desperately her brother needed companionship. Fuck, even with no memory of the previous hundred years he had gone to being surrounded by friends and people he’d cared about to being alone. She knew Taako needed the attention the show gave him, needed that person he could to talk to. And here that person was, claiming there wasn’t a considerate bone in his body. After hearing about the hundred years he spent trying to save hundreds of planets. After being taught his trade secrets. After travelling the world together, just the two of them.

She gritted her teeth, giving him a forced smile. “Yeah, that must have been so hard on you. I can totally see why that warrants trying to poison the guy.”

He blinked in surprise, fumbling over his words, “I-I, okay, yeah that wasn’t my greatest moment, but it honestly was just a heat of the moment kind of thing! I was just so mad, and sick and tired of it always being about him. He pushed me over the edge. If I had known all those people were going to die instead I never would have even touched the poison.”

She couldn’t even manage the forced smile anymore, her words hissed venomously, “Oh, well that’s just a huge relief. What a fucking saint you are, that you wouldn’t purposely poison a whole town to try to get to some guy who couldn’t give you enough attention.”

His jaw dropped, and that was all the time he had before she turned on her heels and stormed down the hall. She summoned her scythe to her hand and tore into the space ahead of her, opening a rift to Barry’s cave.

As soon as she was threw she threw her burning hands in a wide gesture where the portal had been, “Babe, you better have something that will make this guy think hell has come to earth, or I’m going back through and lighting him the fuck up.”

Barry looked up with a start from his assembly of vials and beakers, “Hell on--wh-- What the hell did the guy say?!”

“He had the BALLS to go on about how entitled, self-important, inconsiderate Taako is, from the cell he was thrown into for murdering more than half a town over not getting enough fucking attention and credit from Taako.”

“I-- wow that’s uhh…wow.”

“So you can smooth over the trouble I’m about to get myself into for killing this fucker, right?”

He sighed, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses, “No, Lup, we still can’t kill Sazed.”

“Barry!”

He stepped around the table and took her hands in his, effectively making her extinguish the flames. “Would cursing the shit out of this poison be an acceptable alternative?”

She pouted, but absolutely accepted the kiss Barry came in for. She poked his chest, “Multiple curses, and you have to run each one past me for being agonizing enough.”

“Of course.”

\------------------------------

Barry and Lup were gone for the rest of the day. Angus couldn’t help but feel guilty for the awkward, tense atmosphere that hung in the house as they waited for their return. When hours had started to pass without word from them, Kravitz wanted to go looking for them, but Taako convinced him to let them be. He insisted that if they were going to break their promise of not killing his old assistant they would have been back long ago. So while they waited, he and Ren extended an invitation for the lot to stay for dinner, which they all instantly accepted.

They all pitched in to help. Kravitz and Magnus got the table ready, Merle put on some music to ‘lighten the mood’, and Taako had brought Angus into the Kitchen with him and Ren. Taako took the measurements and mixing of ingredients into his own hands, claiming that he was the only one who could get it just right, but other than that he dictated over their shoulders, taste testing the whole way. When they were done, they called everyone to the table. Two chairs were even included should Lup and Barry make it back in time. 

And sure enough, just as they were sitting down there was the crackle of energy, and the sound of the air tearing as the the two reappeared. Taako shoved a forkful of food into his mouth as he addressed his sister, “So. Happy now?”

Lup gave a devilish grin that briefly made Angus wonder if they really had killed the culprit. “Oh, very.”

Taako rolled his eyes and gestured to the table, “Well you’re lucky you made in time for dinner. I would have made you eat the leftovers cold.”

She wrinkled her nose, “Gross.”

Taako seemed satisfied to get back to eating, but the rest of them continued to watch Barry and Lup expectantly. Barry gave relieved the tension a little as the two of them took their seats, “We uhh--- we didn’t kill the guy, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Kravitz visibly relaxed at that, “I appreciate that, thank you.”

Lup snorted, “Have a little faith in us, dude. We promised we wouldn’t.”

Barry gave her a look, but she clamped a hand over his mouth before he could say anything.

“So….. what exactly did you guys do?” Magnus asked.

Lup winked and placed a finger to her mouth, “Oh, I think we’ll keep that our little secret. Rest assured, he got what he deserved.”

“It was kind of an eye-for-an-eye type of thing.”

Lup made an exasperated noise, “Barry! Come on, that’s literally giving it to them!”

There was a brief silence that followed, but Angus straightened as he realized what Barry must have meant. “You poisoned him?”

The table immediately erupted. Merle gave Barry and hi five, soon followed by Ren and Lup doing the same, and Magnus and Taako burst into laughter. Kravitz was the only one silenced by the reveal, his head in his hands in disbelief. Taako finally spoke through tears of laughter, “Okay, okay, I admit. That is kind of perfect.”

“The idea was all Barry’s. This guy is a genius.” She planted a kiss on his cheek.

Merle held up a hand, “But hold on, wait. Poisoning him still counts as killing him.”

“Not unless it’s lethal.” Barry answered, “Which it wasn’t. I made sure it wouldn’t be.”

“Oh, but he’ll definitely be feeling it for a good, good long while. Also,” She took a bite of her food and pointed at Taako, “We’re doing dessert tonight. I want an authentic Taaco dish.”  
Taako laughed, but Angus was pretty sure everyone noticed he did so to cover up how he had initially stiffened.

“No seriously, babe. It’s been too long since we’ve tag-teamed in the kitchen. I know it’s late so I’m not asking for anything big, something fast and easy.” Her expression softened, “We’ll start small.”

Taako scoffed but gave in, “Fiiiine. Whatever. You wanna do Auntie’s old fudge recipe or something?”

Lup leapt up from her chair and wrapped her hands around Taako’s arm, “Oh hell yeah! Auntie’s fudge is bomb!”

He let her drag him into the kitchen at that, and after they disappeared into the kitchen eyes were back on Barry. “Barry.” Kravitz said, “Was it really just poison?”

He laughed, “Oh no. I also cursed the shit out of his food. Until they can find a magic user powerful enough to undo it all he’s going to be unable to walk on his feet, tormented by various delusions while awake and nightmares while asleep, and secrete a rather putrid smelling liquid.”

Even Kravitz laughed at that, and Merle and Magnus went in for another hi five.

“I know curses are arguably a form of necromancy, but I hope that’s alright with you.”

Kravitz smiled, “Yeah, I think I can make an exception this time.”


End file.
